The City of Angels - The Mini Series (Part 5)

July 13th - July 23rd

Wednesday (July 17th)

This morning we tried again to work in the Manna Room bright and early. After talking to Ben & Chris, they let others know we would be there and to make sure we could get in. The good news was they didn't need us there until 6am! So a little before 6 Jed, Dave & I got up and headed over to the Manna Room. On our way over we noticed our friend Richard, that lives down the hall from where we are staying, hanging out beside his awesome white Fiat. As we walked by we all noticed why he was standing there on the phone staring at it. Something or someone had shattered the front windshield and dented the hood. We also noticed that the railing of the side steps to the church had been destroyed as well. We all felt so bad for him but thankfully he was able to get it fixed.

We spent the morning with Karen in the Manna Room. I am not sure that he has ever had help before so it took him a while to figure out what to do with us. He runs a tight ship and we had a great time getting to know him.  I think by far the funniest thing that happened this morning was as the 4 of us were working, Joe came in to get some food for the groups breakfast. He must have been tired or just really focused because he didn't say a word. Just walked in and started going for the food. Karen tried to speak with him but Joe was "working" we all started laughing when Karen's response to Joe was, "Look at this guy. Always going straight to the business."

After working with Karen, we headed up to breakfast and bible reading before meeting with Bob & Janet Logan. The Logan are friends that we all met while in LA through Pastor Ed. They have been church planters for years and they have a business of consulting with churches through Logan Leadership. It was really insightful to listen to both of them. Some of the highlights from this talk were hearing them talk about what "church" was to them and their community and what community looks like to them. It was a refreshing way to think of it, church being about people, not a building and not what day of the week you meet. The two things that stood out to me the most about this time was

1.) The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) was to "Go and make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" and he said to Peter (Matthew 16:18) "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Bob Logan talked about how it is not our responsibility to build churches but to make disciples of people. It is about people not churches.

2.) At the end of our time, they took out this little frog stuffed animal and had everyone stand up. No one could sit down until the frog had been passed to them and they talked about one thing that stood out to them or something they would do different from our talk. It was so great to hear from others.

After everyone had time to share, it was time to get back to work in the Manna Room again. So we all headed back down stairs and started sorting, organizing & cooking again. We are all really enjoying our time in the Manna Room and had started to get into our rhythm.

Everyday we are getting to meet new people that are a part of the prep teams as well as new names & faces of people coming to eat. Everyone has a unique story and it has been so great to hear so many different stories.

Today as the Neighborhood Bible Club team headed off to meet the neighborhood kids, 8 of us stayed back to cook, prep and serve the 4PM meal.

When the Neighborhood Bible Club team returned and we finished cleaning up, we headed out to an authentic Chinese Restaurant, Seafood Village, in Temple City. Prior to our trip, we had asked Mengyun if you could talk to her friends in LA and recommend a place. Not only did Mengyun pick a fantastic place, she also did all of the ordering to ensure an authentic experience. She did not disappoint.

My favorite two memories from dinner were:
1. The tables were set for two tables of 8 and the servers have there system for these large round tables. We really messed them up when we slid one more people into our table with out them knowing it. As they dished out the first meal, soup, we were one short. In most places, you alert the waiter and they bring out another cup of soup, but not here. You could clearly tell he was not happy with how it played out and instead of bring out another cup of soup, he grabbed another bowl and scooped soup from other cups to fill the extra cup. I wish I could have snapped a picture of Lisa's face when it all happened. It was priceless and we all got a huge laugh out of it.

2. The soup was full of different kinds of meat and thankfully our friend Rudy was there to help us tell them apart. He reassured some that the meat was chicken as he pulled a piece out of his cup. Our friend Dave pulled out a piece of meat from his cup and Rudy let him know that it was pork. Jed followed suit and pulled out a piece of meat from his cup to ask Rudy what it was and Rudy's response was priceless, "That is .... that is something you don't want to eat." We all got a laugh out of Rudy's response but Jed was not going to let that be his final answer. He learned that it was chicken stomach and that he was going to go for it. So he and Dave were going to count to 3 and both eat the meat they had fished out of there bowls. "1 - 2 - 3" Dave says as he still has his pork firmly between his chop sticks. Then he turns to Jed as he is chewing on chicken stomach and says, "I can't believe you just ate that."

We had so much fun and we all tried food that was pretty new to all of us. It was a fantastic experience. After dinner, all of us headed to the Americana, to hang out and get some dessert. Jed & I loved being in our old stomping grounds and loved seeing how things had changed since we left.

A group of us hung out there with our cupcakes and frozen yogurt until just about everything had closed up. It was a fun evening of being silly, serious conversations and continuing to build tight relationships with each other.

The City of Angels - The Mini Series (Part 4)

July 13th - July 23rd

Tuesday (July 16th)

I was super excited for this morning. Today was the day we were going to start helping with the Manna Room starting at 5:30AM! I am definitely not a morning person but after being around Hope and all the people working in the Manna Room just for the last 2 days, I was excited to finally dive in. Jed & I got up and got ready to head out. Alice got up with me and she was hoping that Aaron would go along too. After a few failed phone calls & texts, I volunteered Jed to go get him. Let me tell you how thrilled he was to have to do that! Jed really tried to wake Aaron quietly but it clearly startled him and he about jumped out of his sleeping bag from what we heard. We clearly wore him out over the past few days and he just told Jed he would text Alice to let her know. It was pretty funny from our side of the hall.

So at 5:30AM, Jed, Alice and I walked over to the entrance of the courtyard at Hope and the gate was closed! Locked & Closed! We sat around for a few minutes trying to figure out what we had messed up. It was so early we don't want to bang or be loud as we could wake people trying to sleep. So we hung our heads and walked back to our sleeping bags and got a little more sleep before we tried to start the day again a little later.

We started again with breakfast at 7:30 followed by our bible reading at 8:00. After bible reading we met with Pastor Ed. It is truly amazing to hear him talk about the history of this church building. This church has been in existence for a really long time and has a crazy history that I won't go into but the highlights/interesting facts that stuck out to me the most in listening to Pastor Ed were:

1. The original church (where Hope meets now) was pretty much a celebrity status church, movie stars and the upper crust use to be a big part of it. As the neighborhoods changed around the church, so did its members.

2. This old church LOVED its choir and even more then the choir, the choir loft. It was a big deal. For generations, the choir and the choir loft stuck around as the attendance and dynamics of the church body constantly changed. On Pastor Ed's first Sunday as Pastor of the current church, he took a sledge hammer to this old, beautiful, prized possession of a choir loft. He believed that this loft had become an idol and felt that it needed to be destroyed. Any member of the church that still wanted to be a part of where the church was headed, he made them take a swing at the loft, if not, he asked them to leave the church. Tell me that is not crazy!! He talked about how people wanted to keep pieces of it as a "souvenir" or as a reminder and how every piece was destroyed and it was all thrown away. It definitely made me think of some things very differently.

3. Pastor Ed was instrumental in the Kairos teams move out to LA and because of the relationships people had with Pastor Ed, we ended up renting the secondary room from Hope. Instead of investing the money that Kairos had raised to put a down payment on church, Kairos instead invested that money in renovations to a room that they still use today. It is a cool partnership. The most amazing thing about it was when Pastor Ed talked about that from the investment that Kairos had made in renovating that room, that investment has grow SIX fold. Because of that investment, they were able to create the programs they have today. They have created a recovery center, the Manna Room program, a preschool, redone the second floor to the preschool to allow people that have graduated from the recovery program & many others to get on there feet. It has allowed teams like ours to make a trip like ours possible by giving us a free place to stay. It definitely reminded me of how one small decision can impact so much. It reminded me that everything is linked and that we all really are one big team and I felt honored. Honored to have been a part of the team that came to LA with no clue what I was doing but knew that it was the right thing to do.

It was a very memorable time listening to Pastor Ed and I felt that we could have listened for many more hours but we had work to do and we were excited to get started.When we finished talking with Pastor Ed we all headed downstairs to help and the second van of the day had just gotten there. When the van pulled up, most people that are living, hanging out or volunteering at Hope stopped what they were doing and started grabbing bags from the over packed van. So we jumped right in!

All of the bags get brought to one room to be sorted and organized. At first it seems like total chaos. There is literally food flying everywhere. This morning we worked with a very excited lady that taught us the ropes in the room. She continually total us that if we saw something we liked and wanted to eat, to take it. They called it the Boaz Fields. It was hilarious. So we set aside a few things and kept right on going. After about an hour or so it is all put in the areas that it needs to be and there is a small calm before the next van gets there and the process starts again. It was a lot of fun! I had no idea that sorting, unpacking and repacking could be that crazy and enjoyable!

As we finished in the Sorting Room, things were starting to heat up in the kitchens. The first meal is be served at 10AM so it was time to follow Sean's lead in the kitchen. Sean is one of the many people that volunteers his time to cook a few times a week. He was so patient and calm as entirely way too many of us constantly asked, "What could we do?" about 100 times. He had us cooking, chopping, prepping and washing dishes and before we realized it, it was time to start serving our first meal.

I think after the first meal, we were all hooked. We loved it. We loved screwing around in the kitchen laughing and cutting up; we loved being helpful; we loved being about to sit and eat and talk to people that came for the meal. It was all such a fantastic experience. They served the meal from 10AM to 11AM and then it was time to clean up everything before the next van load of food got there.

It was such an amazing process. After the last van of the day came and the room was sorted and put away we grabbed some lunch for all the food that had come in and the Neighborhood Bible Club team at some point in all the crazy fun headed off for there first day with the neighborhood kids. The remaining 8 of us went to met with Greg.

Greg is that Pastor of South LA Christian Life. Greg was a part of the Kairos church plant a while ago and when the time was right, he started a church in downtown Los Angeles with a team in part from Hope and in part from Kairos Hollywood. Jed & I were really looking forward to seeing Greg, Julie and a ton of other old faces we haven't seen in years. But before the festivities, Greg lead the 8 of us on something he called a "missional walk". The intention of a missional walk is to be intentional about checking out your surroundings. It causes you to slow down and see things that you might otherwise walk right by and never know. The goal of this is to understand different neighborhoods better and see ways to meet needs in specific ways. Many times, missional walks can turn into prayer walks as you walk around just praying for the different neighborhoods and having the chance to meet people.

Our first walk was through part of Hollywood right by where the church is located. We walked from the church to the subway station. We had all had an opportunity to walk around this neighborhood but like many areas in cities, it is constantly changing and the people you see and meet can always be an adventure. And that was the case for us this afternoon. As we walked a very unique individual started cozying up to Scott. He kept trying to talk, patting him etc. He started to "act" like Superman because we had just walked by a little boy that had a Superman shirt on, he even took a detour with the random kid but came back to our group. Next, still not making much sense, he approached Greg. He was looking for a sandwich and when Greg let him know that he didn't have one, he grabbed Greg's face, yelled, let go and off he went a different direction. You just never know what you will find.

We made it to the subway station and headed into downtown Los Angeles. I was pretty excited to use the subway system since we hardly used it at all when we lived here. We all rode the subway down to 6th and Figueroa to walk around down there. As we walked out, I thought I had stepped off the subway in NYC, the people, the smells, the tall buildings surrounding you, the restaurants, and shops. It was pretty nice. They have done some major work downtown over the past years and I loved it. Our final stop was the campus of USC. I think the most striking thing for me on campus was USC's the old entrance fountain that read:

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ESTABLISHED HERE JULY 29, 1879.
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND TO THE PRESERVATION OF THE REPUBLIC
AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING
DEDICATED TO THE SEARCH FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF TRUTH
TO FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
TO INTELLIGENT, UNBIASED ANALYSIS OF THE FORCES THAT
HAVE SHAPED THE PAST AND WILL MOLD THE FUTURE
TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANHOOD AND
WOMANHOOD FOR CHRISTIAN SERVICE AND FOR LOYAL CITIZENSHIP

It was interesting to think about how things get stated and the foundation they start with. I really liked it. After walking around a bit, we made it to there new prized possession, the USC School of Cinematic Arts...

This place was fantastic. I can't believe we were on a college campus walking through some of the buildings that Spielberg & Lucas helped build here. It was amazing.

After our time at USC, we hopped back on the subway and walked the rest of the way to Greg & Julie's house where we meet us with the rest of our team and a group for South LA Christian Life. Many of the people that were there were friends that had moved out to LA the same time Jed & I moved out. It was so much fun to be able to see and catch up with so many of them.

 Since one team spent the day on the subway there wasn't room for all of us on the 15 passenger van so Scott, Katie, Mengyun, Jed & I got to take the subway back. It was a great chance for Katie to get it give it a go since she was with the other team during the day.

Once we got back, Scott, Katie, Jed & I took a side trip for donuts! There are tons of donut places all over LA. We drive by them all day long, many are even opened 24 hours. Of course the night that we won't donuts, we can't seem to find any opened! The best ones are the mom & pop places but we had to settle for Winchell's.

There is conflicting information as to what happened next so I would like to take this opportunity to my side of the story. The four of us walked into Winchell's with donuts on the brain. Jed and I discussed which we felt would be best and Scott & Katie did the same. Scott inquired about some kind of apple filled donut to which Katie felt that it would be bad. So as the guy was taking our order, Scott switched from the apple filled to the jelly filled donut. I paid for all of the donuts and off we went. We made our way to my absolute favorite chain coffee place, The Coffee Bean to get something warm to drink and enjoy our donuts.  When I opened the bag there were only 3 donuts in there! No jelly donut at all! It is my opinion that it was the guy at Winchell's fault. We all heard Scott order the jelly donut and that guy did not put it in the bag. I would also like to take part blame for this as I did pay for all the donuts and I should have known that I didn't pay enough for 4 donuts.

We all had a great laugh, offered Scott some of our non jelly filled donuts and enjoyed the night.

The City of Angels - The Mini Series (Part 3)

July 13th - July 23rd

Monday (July 15th)

This morning we started off with an early breakfast followed by a morning bible reading group. It sounds pretty simple and easy to just glaze over but both of these things are rather amazing in my opinion. First, breakfast: why is breakfast so amazing? Every morning before this morning, I pretty much knew was in my kitchen and what I would eat for breakfast. Or if I wanted something for breakfast one morning, I would run to the store the night before and purchase what I wanted for breakfast. Well, none of those things happen here. Every morning around 5:30am a 15 passenger van shows up with a literal ton of food, flowers, and drinks in it. Every morning we are here, we go into the room that all of this is sorted and distributed and pick out breakfast from what comes in that morning. (More on the details of this process in a later post.) We never know what shows up: muffins, fruit, eggs, bagels, juice etc. I love the idea that every morning & afternoon our team and many other people trust and rely on the unknown of what, if and when that truck comes. It is so simple but since we have a safety net of, "If we are hungry and want breakfast, we just go buy it". This week that isn't an option. It is about trusting and seeing God provide for all our needs.

After breakfast, Lenny, Julio & Guillermo came in for their daily bible reading that they have faithfully done every morning for years. All are welcome to come so we joined in as we read through the bible chronologically & prayed. It was so great to see and hear about these guys (and many others that have made their way though the program) so faithfully come together.

Another fantastic gift we received while being out here is the use of Hope International's 15 passenger van (not the one that gets food). The great part is that we don't have to rent one or worry about how to get 19 people around, the bad part is that it is known to stall out anytime, anywhere.

But we loaded everyone in the 15 passenger van & the rented SUV and took everyone to Griffith Observatory for the rest of the morning. The Observatory itself is closed on Mondays but the views and the building itself is always worth the trip.

We spent the morning as a team just looking over this huge city and exploring the grounds of the Observatory. It wasn't super clear but you definitely got the idea of how large the city was. I think one of the favorite things around the Observatory were the Solar System Lawn Model & the Sundial.

After we wandered around taking in all the sights, we all took some time to reflect on the past day. We have only been here less then 48 hours and the team has seen, heard, smelled & experienced a lot in a short period of time. I think it was really good to take some time to digest all of that. At the end of our time, we spent a while talking about everything.

It was really great to hear what others were thinking and feeling and I definitely think it was a time that brought our team closer together.

 When we left the Observatory, we headed back to Hope to see what the last van brought in so we could grab some lunch before we headed out to House of Blessing. This is an organization that helps ladies and their children get back on their feet. This week part of our team is going to lead a Neighborhood Bible Club with any and all the neighborhood children. We all headed over to the house to meet the ladies that work there and get things set up for kids to start coming on Tuesday.

The group that is leading the kids stayed there for the afternoon going over plans, organizing and getting ready while the other team headed out to get all the supplies they would need for that team. We were also planning on flyering the neighborhood to promote the event but the ladies at the house had already done that for us.

When all was at a good place, it was time to start making our way to our Group Dinner at Miceli's in Hollywood. A group of us headed straight down to Hollywood & Highland so people could have time to explore the area a little before dinner.

Eric, Audrey, Dave & Amy joined us for dinner that night and we had a great time just laughing and enjoying good food. Our waiter was amazing and he even sang for us a few times all while juggling a table of 22! That takes a lot of talent if you as me. At the end of the meal, we had to get a group picture with our waiter.

After dinner most of the team was ready to call it a night but Scott, Katie, Dave, Amy, Terri, Aaron, Alice, Meg, Mengyun, Jed & I decided to explore a little more before heading home. Dave, Audrey & Eric came along with us. Our first stop, dessert at Beard Papa's. We all loved them and decided that Dave looked liked the guy on there logo so we started calling him "Beard Papa". Mengyun said they were just like something they would normally have in China. They were good enough that we brought back some for the rest of the team to eat later.

Thanks to Dave, Audrey & Eric's knowledge of the area, when we were done with dessert they took us on an adventure. We walked up to Yamashiro Restaurant for some spectacular evening views.

By the time we got back to Hollywood & Highland, we had to pick up our van before the garage closed for the night. But instead of going straight back to Hope, we took the long way home and drove the van down the Sunset Strip and back up through West Hollywood. Two very different areas that are known for nightlife. The strip was pretty quiet (it is a Monday night) but there looked to be plenty going on in West Hollywood. Maybe next time we will stop for a bit.